When Darkness Turns To Light
by Moonlight and Strawberry Pocky
Summary: Death. Death has been a constant companion their whole lives. One's brother was murdered, and their band fell apart; suddenly they're both back in Amoris-and on a mission to solve the cold case. Two years in the dark, hidden away has left them more troubled than they can let on, but maybe that's what a romance is for, right? CastielXOC, LysanderXOC
1. Prologue

_February 14, 2015_

My heart is racing at a million miles a second.

The focus to look at the dark walls as they fly by eludes me. Left, right, left, left, right, straight, right again.

Glancing back isn't an option, it would only slow me down. Not that I need to. I can hear the rapid footsteps behind me, and the splashing of the puddles of oily street water. One, splish, two, splash-drip.

My lungs are aching for oxygen I can't pause to give them. The burning in my calves and abdomen is overwhelming. My brain is screaming at me not to stop. Unfortunately, my body seems to have very different ideas. As I burst out of the back alley and into the edge of the woods, my legs give out from under me, and I'm forced to cling to a low-hanging branch for support.

The funny thing about imminent death is the way it unclouds your senses. A few yards away I can hear the short wheezes of my pursuer. I feel the thudding beneath my feet stop as the steps following me do. A few hundred yards in front of me, I catch glimpses of the same highway from two years ago. Vaguely I wonder if it still stinks of blood, and then shake off the idea. I have bigger things to worry about.

I'm out of options, but suddenly I'm not afraid. Gasping for breath, my limbs numb and heavy, hair sticking to my forehead, clothes clinging to my sweat-soaked skin, I turn sluggishly and lean backwards again, my right arm draped over the bare limb.

The truth is, I'm tired of running, of hiding. As I raise my eyes in a challenge, I am met with an icy-cold glare in return.

The wolf bares its teeth.


	2. Chapter 1

"_In the darkness before the dawn  
In the swirling of this storm  
When I'm rolling with the punches  
And hope is gone  
Leave a light, a light on"_

_~Midnight by Coldplay_

_**Jackie**_

_October 29, 2014_

In two days it would once again be the date that brought me so much happiness and so much pain.

In two days, it would have been five years since I moved to the small town of Amoris, New Jersey.

Three years since I'd entered Sweet Amoris High School and made the kinds of friends I never knew I could have.

Two years since my brother had been murdered.

One year since my band broke up because of one opportunity my best friend had decided she couldn't give up on.

Damn, how I hated Halloween. I didn't used to; it was Eric's favorite holiday. Every year he and his twin Derek would spend weeks decorating the house, hanging fake webs and plastic spiders and fabric bats; buying up all the candy from every store in town; working endlessly on their costumes and striving for them to be absolutely flawless. Then, on Halloween night, they would invite the neighborhood to our address to throw the hugest party the small town had seen in its creation, getting progressively larger each year. I could remember how their faces lit up as they had the time of their lives while I huddled in the corner by the punch bowl. I never had been one for groups of people…

Death was not a subject on which I typically liked to dwell. It bothered me to think of never seeing people again, to believe that all there was left after we were gone were our bodies, rotting in the ground to decompose as the worms inched through them, eating away at the bones which were slowly turning to dust. For my brother's sake, I prayed always that there would be some sort of life after this one, where he would find the recognition he deserved. He was far too young to die. He had so much left to give; this thought never failed to make me angry. His time shouldn't have ended so quickly, and especially not because some lunatic who had never been found decided it was up to them to take from the world a fifteen year-old boy who had never done a single thing wrong in his whole existence.

Only recently had I begun to come to terms with his loss. My mother had died when I was very young, so young that I could barely remember her face and could recognize it only from the pictures sitting above the hearth in the living room. My father was ex-military, and had only returned a month or so before Eric had been killed. My small family had only been extended to them, Zane, and Natalie.

Her name never failed to send a pang through my chest. She had left. Yes, she had left. I missed her. What else was I to do but miss her? She was the only person who really understood me. I couldn't bring myself to stop her when she wanted to run off with two guys she had only met a few months prior to join their band and travel the country. Even if she had left Zane and I behind to attempt and fail to hold our own musical group together without her. _When Darkness Turns To Light_ had had its moment of glory. But the loss of a member shattered all hope of its ultimate success.

But as I said, I had never been one to continuously turn the past over in my mind too many times, or for too long. Then, though, the question begged to be asked. What was I doing in the Amoris Cemetery, having been there since an hour before dawn? I had no idea.

Collecting myself from the stupor I had stood in for an immeasurable length of time, I glanced out over the town below. The sun was only just beginning to peek over the mountains to my right, which meant it was around seven-thirty. It shone off the dense fog that encircled every building, every bush, every tree, even around my feet where it swirled and settles, sending slight shivers up my spine. October mornings were always cool, but on this day there seemed to be an unusual chill in the air, drawing my breath out in soft puffs of steam as I exhaled slowly. In the distance I could hear a few car engines revving and bells chiming, marking the start of another day. The tardy bell would ring at exactly eight-oh-five, giving me enough time to race down the hill on my bike even if I remained for twenty minutes more. I returned my attention to the grave marker in front of me, crouching to graze my fingers over the cool marble and along the lettering I'd become too familiar with.

_Eric Rose_

_March 8, 1997-October 31, 2012_

"Little brother, no matter how long it takes, I'll find out who did this. I don't care what the police say. Cold case file or not, I refuse to let it go," I murmured to the stone. I was then startled by a soft voice behind me.

"I'm sure he knows that, Jack…"

I didn't bother to turn. "Did Dad send you to get me?"

Frost-covered leaves crackled under Derek's boots, and then under his knees as he came to sit to my left. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the flash of green that signaled he was wearing Eric's old windbreaker. He sighed quietly before responding,

"Does he ever?"

It was a rhetorical question. Of course my father hadn't sent him to the grave of his dead brother, to be with his dysfunctional older sister who might or might not have a breakdown at any moment. He was here because something drew him back to this place, just like it did with me. He couldn't stay away, even if we couldn't feel a single fraction of Eric around us. His body might be under ours, under the air, the soil; but _he_ had never been here. There was nothing but a stupid, sentimental attachment to the location of his eternal resting place in the physical world. Normally, these moments were ones we accepted in silence. I reached over to take his gloved right hand in my bare left one, relishing in the slight warmth it provided me, the comfort that I still had at least one of my brothers.

"I was thinking… We should throw a party this year." I hadn't expected him to speak, and looked up in surprise. Noticing my gaze, he raised his pale blue eyes to meet mine. Most of his messy brown hair was hidden under the gray beanie hat he was wearing, but a few pieces of his bangs had crept out and were sweeping in front of them.

"A—a party? Derek, are you sure?"

He made a quiet sound of acknowledgement in the back of his throat, turning his head to stare out over the town. "I know there's only two days left, and it won't be like it was…" He trailed off for a moment, clearing his throat. "But I think it would be… Good for us. All of us. Invite some people from school too, you know?"

Not wanting to upset him, I gently gave him the yes I knew he wanted, earning a relieved smile that swelled my heart and broke it all in the same moment. A beeping came from his pocket, and reaching down, he pulled out his cell.

"School starts in ten minutes." We both stood, brushing off our knees. Then, in a challenging, hearty voice that I hadn't heard in eons, he huffed, "Race you to the parking lot?"

Shooting him my first genuine smile since Eric's death, I sprinted off to my bike outside the wrought iron gates.

* * *

**Wow, so I'm really sorry it's been so long since I updated at all, and then I go and such a short prologue and first chapter... I tried three or four times to extend the chapter, but I just felt that it was such a good spot to leave it... Yeah, it's a little dark and depressing. It's meant to be. It's just an introduction, after all. To all of you who are still around and are going to read this from the last one, thanks! And to all you new readers, HOLY CRAP THANK YOU SO MUCH. I'll try to get chapter two posted as quickly as I can, I promise! And it will probably be a lot longer, haha. ~Thorn**


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